The field of the invention is musical instruments. In particular, the invention relates to a device for the input of musical notes and the visual display of musical notes.
Musical instruments have a long history in practically every human culture. Most instruments are designed to produce single tones. Further, the majority of musical instruments are designed such that linear manipulations of the arrangements of valves, strings, keys, pipes, holes, and the like will produce tones of rising or falling tone in a logical, linear fashion. For example, in its lower ranges, a clarinet produces successively higher tones as the lowest fingers are successively lifted, and pianos are arranged such that the tones produced by striking the keys rise from left to right.
In general existing instruments are most effectively used to play melodies, and in fact musical instruments that produce a single note at a time are limited to such play. In order to facilitate melodic play, the orthodox design approach for musical instruments conforms the instruments to various scales, wherein the patterns of manipulations that generate notes is linear as patterned after such scales. In instruments that are capable of producing chords, such as pianos, the chromatic arrangement of the keys makes the playing of chords or intervals a physical challenge requiring much practice and effort to achieve pleasant results. Accordingly, students of such instruments spend years developing the physical skills required to play their instrument.
Also, the design of present musical instruments does little to advance the understanding or learning of musical theories that elucidate the harmonic aspects of music. For example, watching the keys move on a player piano may in some general way inform the viewer as to whether the notes being played are high or low, but it does little to impart a comprehension of the relationship of those keys to each other in producing the music.
Further, both group performances and music education can be advanced by having instruments that can be linked such that the playing of one person is made visually available to another person as well as aurally available. Visual recognition of visual geometric shapes is an easier and more widespread skill than the aural recognition of harmonic shapes. A teacher could simultaneously demonstrate music both visually and aurally, or co-performers could react to each other""s play based on both visual and aural cues.
Therefore, a need exists for musical instruments that facilitate the playing of music dictated primarily by harmonic rather than chromatic principles. Desirably, such instruments would be physically easy to play and provide an artist or student with visual stimulus related to music being played to deepen understanding of music theory. More desirably, such instruments would be designed to accept input and display output in a way that related to the fundamental harmonic relationships of tones. It would also be advantageous if such instruments could be linked to advance educational and performance uses of the instruments. Another desirable development would be to have instruments that visually display music in intuitively understood, simple, geometric shapes.
One aspect of the present invention is a device for the input of musical notes and chords, a chord comprising a plurality of musical notes, wherein chords are classified into types according to the number of notes in the chord and the tonal relationship among the notes. Such a device has a plurality of input devices, each input device being associated with a note, wherein the plurality of input devices are arranged in spatial relationship to each other such that the relative spatial relationship of the subset of input devices required to play a type of chord is the same for all chords of that type.
Another aspect of the present invention is a device having a first relative spatial relationship of three spatially contiguous input devices respectively, producing or representing a major chord, a second relative spatial relationship, different from the first relative spatial relationship, of three spatially contiguous input devices respectively, producing or representing a minor chord, a third relative spatial relationship, different from the first and second relative spatial relationships, of three spatially contiguous input devices respectively, producing or representing an augmented triad, and a fourth relative spatial relationship, different from the first, second and third relative spatial relationships, of three spatially contiguous input devices or lights respectively produces or represents a diminished triad.
Another aspect of the invention is a device where the first relative spatial relationship is a triangle pointed in a first direction, the second relative spatial relationship is a triangle pointed in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, the third relative spatial relationship is a first line, and the fourth relative spatial relationship is a second line transverse to the first line.
A still further aspect of the invention is a device comprising a plurality of display elements, each display element being associated with a note wherein the activation of a input device activates the display element associated with the same note as the input device.
Another aspect of the invention concerns a device wherein the input devices are selected from the group consisting of switches, buttons and keys.
Still another aspect of the invention is a device for the input of musical notes where there are a plurality of spaced apart input devices, each input device being associated with a musical note wherein the input devices are arranged in a pattern such that each pair of nearest neighbor input devices positioned in a first direction relative to each other are tonally spaced seven half steps from each other, each pair of nearest neighbor input devices positioned in a second direction relative to each other are tonally spaced three half steps from each other; and each pair of nearest neighbor input devices positioned in a third direction relative to each other are tonally spaced four half steps from each other.
Another aspect of the invention is a display device for the representation of musical notes and chords, a chord comprising a plurality of musical notes, wherein chords are classified into types according to the number of notes in the chord and the tonal relationship among the notes. Such a device has a plurality of display elements, each display element being associated with a note, where the plurality of display elements are arranged in spatial relationship to each other such that the relative spatial relationship of the subset of display elements required to display a type of chord is the same for all chords of that type.
A still further aspect of the invention is a device where a first relative spatial relationship of three spatially contiguous display elements respectively produces or represents a major chord, a second relative spatial relationship, different from the first relative spatial relationship, of three spatially contiguous display elements respectively produces or represents a minor chord, a third relative spatial relationship, different from the first and second relative spatial relationships, of three spatially contiguous display elements respectively produces or represents an augmented triad, and a fourth relative spatial relationship, different from the first, second and third relative spatial relationships, of three spatially contiguous display elements respectively produces or represents a diminished triad.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a display device for the visual display of musical notes having a plurality of spaced apart display elements, each input device being associated with a musical note wherein the input devices are arranged in a pattern such that each pair of nearest neighbor display elements positioned in a first direction relative to each other are tonally spaced seven half steps from each other. The device is arranged such that each pair of nearest neighbor display elements positioned in a second direction relative to each other are tonally spaced three half steps from each other; and each pair of nearest neighbor display elements positioned in a third direction relative to each other are tonally spaced four half steps from each other.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.